Read full description of the books:

Very informative, much like Manga! Manga!, but with a different format which works for and against the writing. Much of the book is taken from articles that Schodt had previously written and the rest is written in the same style. This helps to remember things if you're not familiar with anime and manga but for anyone with passing familiarity it ends up getting a little repetitive. Schodt also has a tendency towards predicting future trends in manga, which unfortunately dates the book. This is partly countered by the afterward written in 2011 (the original Dreamland Japan was written in 1996), but even in that he remains skeptical that popular manga and anime titles (specifically ones that were not, as of publication, licensed and translated into English) will be as successful. This I think is a disservice to his fellow countrymen, many of whom are very interested in reading older, more obscure and idiosyncratic manga if they could only get their hands on localized versions. I'd be interested to read more of his work despite my reservations about his writing style as he does a good job explaining trends in manga, particularly the relationships between artists, writers, editors, publishers and readers.

Read information about the author

Frederik L. Schodt is an American translator, interpreter and writer.

Schodt's father was in the US foreign service, and he grew up in Norway, Australia, and Japan. The family first went to Japan in 1965 when Schodt was fifteen. They left in 1967 but Schodt remained to graduate from Tokyo's American School in Japan, in 1968. After entering the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1970 Schodt returned to Japan, and studied Japanese intensively at International Christian University (I.C.U.) for a year and half. He graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1972, and after a brief bohemian stint at a variety of jobs and traveling became a tour guide in Los Angeles for Japanese tourists, also escorting them to Canada and Mexico. After trying to interpret for a group once at Sunkist, he realized that he could become an interpreter, but needed further training. In 1975, he was awarded a scholarship from Japan's Ministry of Education, to return to I.C.U. and study translation and interpreting. After finishing his studies at I.C.U. in 1977, he began working in the translation department of Simul International, in Tokyo. In mid-1978 he returned to the United States, and since then has worked in San Francisco as a free-lance writer, translator, and interpreter.

While working in Tokyo in 1977, he joined with several university friends in contacting Tezuka Productions. They sought permission to translate the Phoenix comic into English. Schodt is notable in manga and anime fandom for his translations of works such as Osamu Tezuka’s Phoenix, Tezuka’s Astro Boy, Riyoko Ikeda’s The Rose of Versailles, Keiji Nakazawa’s Barefoot Gen, and others.

His best known book is Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics, published in 1983 and reprinted several times, with an introduction by Tezuka. Manga! Manga! won a prize at the Manga Oscar Awards in 1983. Furthermore, in 2000 Schodt was awarded the Asahi Shimbun’s Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize "Special Prize" for his outstanding contribution to the appreciation of manga worldwide.